A Prisoner of the Khaleefa/Chapter 13

by Charles Neufeld

 

CHAPTER XIII

 

THE TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE

If I am wearying my readers with this long-drawn-out episode, which never seems to draw to a close, I may ask their forgiveness on the ground that weeks have been spent in collecting the links which were scattered between Europe and Omdurman, and without the links complete the tale might, and very reasonably so, have been disbelieved.

The messengers I despatched with the first letters quoted, arrived in Assouan some time in January or February, 1889, an d delivered the letters to Mankarious Effendi, who at once wrote to my manager, as he had sold up my business, and left for Alexandria. Receiving no reply, Mankarious Effendi wrote to the German Consulate at Alexandria, who, on March 4, replied as follows: —

 

"Alexandria, March 4, 1889.

"Mankarious Effendi Rizk, Assouan, —

"In reply to your letter of February 18 last, I am very sorry to inform you that the agent of Mr. Charles Neufeld, the Mahdi's captive in the Soudan, Mr. Möller has shown that he cannot help Mr. Neufeld in any way. It is rumoured here that the house established by Mr. Möller for Mr. Neufeld has refused payments for some months back, therefore Mr. Möller finds it quite impossible to send to Mr. Neufeld any sum unless he refuses many payments to numerous creditors who claim any amounts from Mr. Neufeld's house. Mr. Möller was called to this Consulate, and directed to give a full statement as to his proceedings in the said house, and how the latter stands, and on doing so, it was found that Mr. Möller has done nothing wrong, and we have therefore nothing to say against Mr. Möller.

"But as regards the £500 deposited in the Credit Lyonnais by Mr. Neufeld before his departure to the Soudan, Mr. Möller has shown receipts for over £400 paid to creditors, and the rest was spent as travelling expenses between here and Assouan, and for the establishment of the new house in Alexandria. Still Mr. Möller has asked Abd-el-Kader Bey, who came recently back from the Soudan, to advise him as to the way in which he could send him a sum of money. Abd-el-Kader Bey's advice, however, was that no money should be sent to Mr. Neufeld, because the latter cannot make use of money there. Abd-el-Kader Bey stated, further, that Mr. Neufeld was then in chains, and was only induced by his guards to ask for money. He was then very much threatened and ill-treated by them. This is all about the case now which I lay before your notice.

"(Signed)The German Consul,
"Helwig."

 

At the same time, my manager, on my own letter-paper, sent the following: —

"Alexandria (undated).

"After salaams, etc., yours to hand and details notified. In reply, I inform you that I presented myself at the German Consulate, and found a letter from you addressed to the Consulate, stating therein that Mr. Neufeld had written to you to the effect that he claims £500 from me, although I had paid this sum to creditors who claimed sums from Mr. Neufeld. I have sent goods to Halfa and Assouan, the value of which I have not yet received. I inform you further that Nicola Lutfalla has sold the dahabieh, the horse, and the donkeys, and did not send me the price of same, though he sold these without any permission from me. Consequently I wrote to him to send me the account or the money, yet nothing of the kind was received from him.

Will you kindly arrange to sell all the goods in charge of Nicola, because he wrote me saying that he was ill, and can neither buy nor sell; so kindly sell the things and forward the money in order to cover the claims (i.e. the sums advanced to me by my guides, and the money I had asked for).

"Please also have a complete list made by Nicola, showing all the things he sold, and let me have this list, making thereby the thing clear, otherwise I shall have to take measures through the Government.

"Regarding our two houses in Assouan, will you kindly let them for any rent, from which you will pay the taxes. Should they be vacant now, please look after them, and send people each week to keep them clean. They should always be kept locked. Should anything remain what cannot be sold, keep it for Mr. Neufeld, and any letter you write me, please address to Mr. Moller, Mr. Neufeld's agent in Alexandria, and oblige.

(Signed) "Möller.

"N.B. — Ask Nicola for account as well."

While this correspondence was being conducted, another of my messengers arrived, and again Mankarious Effendi wrote to the Consulate, receiving the following in reply: —

"Alexandria, March 12, 1889.

"A previous letter, dated March 4, was sent you. On the same date a letter was received from you. You may be sure that what Mr. Wilhelm Möller says is quite true, that is that Mr. Neufeld is no longer a German subject nor protégé, because during his stay in Egypt Mr. Neufeld has never claimed the protection of Germany, where he was born. Thus he has lost his nationality. This is according to what we learn from the parties interested in Germany. Upon this, this Consulate can in no way look into the affairs of Mr. Neufeld nor protect his rights, except to punish Mr. Möller should he have done anything to be punished for, as we stated to you in our letter of March 4th. But the investigations made in our Consulate show clearly that Mr. Möller has done nothing wrong for which he ought to be punished.

Should you, however, think it necessary, with reference to Mr. Neufeld's two letters, which are returned herewith, to have his business made over to you, this step should be taken before the Mixed Tribunals, if Mr. Möller refuses to make over to you Mr. Neufeld's business willingly.

"As regarding the testament made by Mr. Neufeld, which you sent to this consulate on October 23, 1887, this was first kept in this consulate, and then, when Mr. Neufeld's wife came here in September, 1888, she asked for it, as it had been reported that Mr. Neufeld was dead. This testament was then sent to the Governor of Alexandria as the one concerned, to which Mrs. Neufeld had to refer as a local subject. So the Governor opened the testament, and handed it to Mrs. Neufeld, who is still in possession of it. Mr. Möller has now removed his business to Cairo, where he intends to get married. Salaams.

(Signed)"The German Consul,
"Helwig."

Mankarious would have entered an action to secure my property, but the argument had been used that the letters were not written by me, and that perhaps I. did not know their real contents. He did not know, nor did the Consulate in a later incident know, that the small Latin characters written by me on these letters proved their genuineness, as they were the "cash code" I had used with my manager in business telegrams. Mankarious sent Mohammad Ali back to Omdurman with my discredited bill, and with verbal messages that he would do all in his power to raise monies for my escape. While he was making arrangements, Moussa Daoud-el-Kanaga, who had spent some time on the road ingratiating himself with the people whose assistance we should require in our flight, put in his appearance, and learning how matters stood, without confiding in Mankarious or Mohammad Ali, came on to Cairo, in the hope that he would be able to get the money on the strength of the letter that I had given him, for, as he admits, he wanted all the glory and all the profit for himself.

I continue the history from the sworn statement of Kanaga, taken before a lawyer and in the presence of witnesses who could vouch for the greater part of it. I admit I was myself a little incredulous, but Kanaga has since backed up his statement by producing two documents, the authenticity of which cannot for a moment be called into question, while two are actually recorded in extenso in the registers of the German Consulate. Kanaga, according to his statement, on arrival at Cairo, presented the letter addressed to my manager, at the German Consulate, delivering at the same time my verbal messages. By the German Consulate he was taken to the Austrian Consulate-General, who, after hearing his news, sent a consular official with him to the War Office, where he related his story.

It is quite evident that Count Wass, the Austrian Consul-General, believed that Kanaga would be assisted to start back immediately on the proposed expedition, for he entrusted him with an autograph letter dated Sunday, October 27, 1889, addressed to Slatin, asking Slatin to request the Khaleefa to reply to the message sent him by the Emperor of Austria concerning the Austrian Mission captives. Kanaga

makarious effendi with guides

was put off time after time on the grounds that no reply had been received to the letter he had delivered. Losing patience, he returned to Assouan and made up a caravan on his own account, and, when all was ready, returned to Cairo to report that all arrangements were complete. He was again passed from one to the other, and on April 26, 1890, he presented himself for the last time at the German Consulate, and being told that there was "no reply," he demanded a certificate to the effect that he had delivered my letter, but had not received any monies in connection with it, when a signed and sealed certificate was given him.^[1] Kanaga concealed the Consular certificate and the letter for Slatin in his jibbeh, and set off for Omdurman. On nearing Berber he was met by a dervish patrol, taken prisoner, and hurried before the Mahdist Governor of the town. There he was confronted by two men who swore to having seen him conversing with myself and Wad Adlan. This Kanaga did not deny, but said that he had only spoken about trade, and that he had permission to trade. The Governor told him it would be better to tell the truth, for he had received the news from Omdurman of Wad Adlan having assisted him in arranging my escape, and had also received news from Cairo of his visits to the War Office and the Consulates, and knew that the goods he had with him were a blind to his real object in going to Omdurman. But, continued the Governor, Adlan has been killed, and Neufeld has more chains on him. No confession could be dragged out of Kanaga, so he was flogged and thrown into prison, the Governor confiscating his camels and property. After a short spell in prison, Kanaga was set free and told to return to his own people. To have sent him as a prisoner to Omdurman would have necessitated the Governor sending at the same time the confiscated camels and goods, and as the Governor wished to keep these for himself, the only way he could keep them was by "forgiving" Kanaga, and releasing him. Kanaga lost no time in making his way back to his people, but after this narrow escape, he made no further efforts to penetrate into the Soudan, and the relation of his experiences deterred every one else from attempting my escape.

In giving my narrative to the world — owing to the very evident attempts made in certain quarters to discredit me — I have felt it incumbent upon me not for my own sake, but for the sake of my mother, wife and child, and relatives, to produce as far as lies in my power reliable evidence that the slanders persistently circulated in the Press before and since my release are only what I have characterized them to be. Therefore none may cavil at the means I adopt for the attainment of this object provided those means are honest, however disagreeable the process may eventually turn out to be for others.

In reply to the charges of refusing to escape from the Soudan, I have, I venture to believe, brought together the links of the chain of evidence in my favour up to the present period of my narrative. Other evidences will be forthcoming in connection with incidents to be treated of later. The letters I have quoted are ample proof that from October, 1888, until April, 1890, my guides and myself were doing all in our power to effect my escape. Meanwhile, the Intelligence Department on March 10, 1890, are writing to my wife as follows: —

"Mohammad Effendi Rafai, late Sub-Lieutenant, 4th Battalion, 5th Regiment, who left Khartoum three months ago, states he knew Neufeld very well, and saw him at Omdurman only a few days before he left. Neufeld had been under surveillance until about five months prior to this, but was now free. His release was owing to one of the Emirs representing to Abdullah Khalifa the great service Neufeld had been in enabling arms and ammunition to be taken from the Kabbabish at the time Neufeld was captured. He now was employed as one of the Khalifa's mulazimeen, and received a small salary; the Khalifa gave him two wives, and treats him well. Neufeld has very little to complain of except want of funds, which renders living difficult, good food being very dear. He is frequently staying with Ibrahim Bey Fauzi, who has opened a small coffeeshop. It is untrue that the Khalifa ever threatened Neufeld's life; he was only threatened with imprisonment unless he turned Mussulman. Does not think it possible that Neufeld can receive any letters, etc., from outside. Neufeld does not occupy himself in business in any way. Has never heard Neufeld express any wish to go away, but does not think he would be able to do so even if he wished it, as every one knows him."

In September, 1888, it had been reported to my wife that, having made an attempt to escape, I had been recaptured, and taken back to Omdurman and executed. It was therefore very kind and considerate of the Intelligence Department to see the error rectified, but I venture to think that the sweets of the good news need not have been converted into gall and wormwood by telling her that I owed my release to my "assistance" in betraying the caravan of the loyal Sheikh Saleh into the hands of the dervishes. Even had there been any truth in such a statement, I think that an English lady might have been spared this unnecessary heart-pang. I thank God nightly — ay, hourly, that He has brought me alive from the hell I lived in, to rescue my wife from the hell she was thrown into with such reports as these.

It must not be imagined, from the foregoing, that there is the slightest intention on my part to cast aspersions on the War Office or the Consulates. I place plain simple facts before you, and these because at the time when I was anxiously awaiting the return of my messengers, picturing to myself the efforts my friends were making to ensure success — though, as has been seen, they were very differently occupied — reports were being circulated that I refused to escape, and my wife in consequence was the recipient of numberless letters of sympathy, in which some were "praying to the Almighty to turn the heart of your erring husband," while others were expressing the hope that the ties which bound her to me would soon be severed by my meeting my deserts at the hands of the Khaleefa's executioner! Those who prayed for me I thank; One who knew the truth, heard those prayers : those who condemned me I do not blame, and feel no resentment against; they merely believed what was communicated to the Press.

 

 

1. "Attestation. At the special request of Moussa Daoud-el-Abadi (Ababdeh), this is to certify that the above on October 22, 1889, brought to the Imperial Consulate a letter addressed to William Miller Assouan, and said to be from Charles Neufeld. This is to certify also that the said letter to Mr. Miller was sent to Mr. Neufeld's father, but up to the present no monies have been received in respect of it. Signed, Becker."

   The letter itself was copied into the Consular registers G. 48, p. 385, and the following is a translation of the contents: —

   "William Möller Assouan. Three days ago I sent to you Mohammad Ali with a letter and receipt for £100. Do not make any difficulties about payment, and give him as much money as possible according to the letter I have sent you. He is a sure man, and I hope he will be the go-between between me and you after this, and there shall be reward for it. I have agreed with him that he shall receive 25 per cent. of the amount you give him for his services. With the other man mentioned in his letter and mentioned here, you might act as you like, but do not make any difficulties to him. I hope I shall be able to buy my liberty after his return, and then all expenses shall be rewarded. I have sent to you up to now." . . . The Consulate omitted to register the names.of the guides sent, and left the space blank. The certified copy of this letter also states that the letter contained certain Latin characters which were undecipherable; these, again, were my ‘cash code' to my manager, proving the authenticity of the letters and guaranteeing the contents. On the back of the letter was written, ‘Pay to Moussa Daoud-el Kanaga the sum of £30 received. Dated December 5, 1888."